quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
Flour is highly processed. It basically gives your body pure sugar. Insulin spike plus calories equals fat storage. It’s not the worst thing out there but pizza is far from healthy.

Humans have been eating flour for at least 14,000 years. And for a significant portion of that time, bread (made from flour) was the primary food source for much of the world's population.

Even fine "white" flour has been a thing for at least 5,000 years.

Rampant obesity has only been an issue for about 50 years.

It ain't flour's fault.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
Flour is highly processed. It basically gives your body pure sugar. Insulin spike plus calories equals fat storage. It’s not the worst thing out there but pizza is far from healthy.

Humans have been eating flour for about 14,000 years, and for a significant portion of that time bread made from flour was the primary food source.

Rampant obesity has been an issue for about 50 years.

It ain't flour's fault.

In the past 60 years, the genetics of wheat have changed enormously. Wheat does not act like human haploid genes to yield diploid chromosomes … wheat is chromosomally additive, and therefore the number of chromosomes has increased by several orders of magnitude.

Do you know what semolina flour is?

What happened to the wheat “food” when they made it grow only 18 inches so that the the heavy engineereed wheat heads didn’t break a tall stalk, and the combines could harvest it better?

No one ever tested that.

Thousands of changes have been made to wheat to make it easier to sell.

(For what it’s worth, I studied genetic engineering heavily at University.)

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
Woke idiots.

This has nothing at all to do with being "woke." This is actual, honest-to-God science.

Most Americans' diets are utterly terrible. Now add to that decreased physical activity, markedly decreased sleep, and a steady flow of noise (mobile devices, social media, "news,", etc.) and it's no wonder the average American is a mental and physical basket case.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
“Highly-processed foods should be reclassified as drugs because they are as addictive and harmful as cigarettes, scientists argue.

I don't know as I'd go quite that far, but there's no question the stuff is both harmful and addictive.

It's like the old Lays Potato Chip commercial: "Bet you can't eat just one."

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
Researchers claim items like donuts, sugary cereals and pizza meet the meet official criteria that established cigarettes as a drug in the 1990s.

Pizza is a bridge too far, IMO. Pizza can actually be somewhat nutritious. (Though I would not recommend a steady diet of it.) But things like chips, donuts, and sugary breakfast cereals are almost entire bereft of nutritional value.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
Ultra processed foods - which also include things like soda, chips, pastries and candies - contain high amounts of unnatural flavors, preservatives and sweeteners. …”

This is also true.

Mrs. ensigmatic and I eat very little of any of that stuff, and only infrequently when we do. It's often not even in the home.

For those who don't think this stuff addictive: How many times have we seen, here in SF's very pages, when diet is being discussed, one-or-more members say "I can't give up my <name a soda pop>?" That is the very definition of addiction.

Mind you: I'm not a fan of government regulation. But far too much of what Americans regularly consume is unquestionably unhealthy.

And, yes: Addictive.

Its soil depletion.

Depleted soil, results in far less nutrients in the food crops grown on it.

Less nutrient density, means you eat more of it, because your body will demand, say, selenium, and is willing to demand excess calories, if that's what it takes to get it.

Yes, people can get addicted to sugar - but bread used to be a food source, not a garnish.

Well you can get pizza crust made from Cauliflower.

I've not tried it but I am willing to.

Anybody else try it?
.

I blame my Lay's potato chip addiction from the 60's on the Cowardly Lion, aka, Bert Lahr.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
Well you can get pizza crust made from Cauliflower.

I've not tried it but I am willing to.

Anybody else try it?
.

I’ve tried it. It’s edible but it’s a delivery mechanism for topping. Not delicious like flour dough.

Regarding flour, it also used to be fermented for a long time to make dough. Todays quick rise crap doesn’t help nutrition.

Nevertheless I wasn’t condemning wheat flour alone. But it gets the addiction to carbs going and that can result in insulin resistance.

Good thing my addiction is black coffee. Seems it has positive health benefits.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
Ultra processed foods should be regulated here the same as they are in Europe. Other places do get some things correct, this topic being one of them IMO.

Why don't you enlighten us as to what you mean, Comrade? I don't see this regulation in Europe that you speak of.

Are you inferring the government should dictate what we are allowed to eat now?

Government has been dictating what we call “food “forever… Every hear of the USDA?

Do you know how many federal agencies regulate a chicken egg, farm to table? 7.

How about the definition of “hamburger” at McDonald’s on the menu? That’s regulated.

Where are you headed with this?

I’m not talking about USDA and food standards and safety.

I’m talking about the Government DECIDING WHAT I CAN AND CANNOT EAT. Are we really going to start going down that path again? Government decides what size soda I’m allowed to buy? That always ends well.

You know that.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
Well you can get pizza crust made from Cauliflower.

I've not tried it but I am willing to.

Anybody else try it?
.

My wife eats other Cauliflower based substitutes, such as wraps, 'sandwich thins', etc (she's eliminated ALL sugars and bread from her diet!), and I've 'tried' them...They're not bad, some are even tasty, but for pizza, I prefer traditional pizza crust.

We read the Ingredient Label on EVERYTHING we buy, and most everything we eat is home-made from scratch, with 'whole' ingredients, so NOTHING out of a box and NOTHING out of an envelope! We eat 'Real Food', which includes Butter, Cheese, Red Meat, Pork, Chicken, Fish, Vegetables, BACON, Eggs, etc and I drink Whole Milk, a.k.a the 4% version. Everything in Moderation...

Absolutely EVERYTHING the .gov and the 'food lobby experts' told us about Saturated Fats and Cholesterol Was WRONG! And even worse, everything they pushed re: the 'food pyramid' and a low fat diet (actually promoting trans fats) was SPECTACULARLY Wrong!

Some pretty surprising opinions in this thread. I don't think pizza belongs on the list...pizza is our friend.

There is no greater tyranny than that which is "for your own good."

quote:

Donuts, chips and pizza should be redefined as DRUGS, scientist say

Suppose they were. Then what? How would it be enforced? A Food Safety Administration?



The people who came up with this probably advocated pie hole diapers and mandatory, under penalty of law "jabs" for Covid.

People should have choices and be able to make their own decisions.

I do wish I understood more about nutrition when I was younger.

I may still eat those three things but not as much as I used to. All three make me feel sluggish or something like that.

For me the bigger problem today is all the extra crap in so much of what we buy. When I really try and eat clean I feel better.

quote:

Originally posted by bdylan:
Some pretty surprising opinions in this thread. I don't think pizza belongs on the list...pizza is our friend.

Pizza, the 'Highly Processed' out of a box/frozen variety is definitely NOT your friend. Otherwise yes, Pizza (homemade or from the Pizzaria/restaurant is certainly NOT the enemy of good health, unless of course, like anything else, you're eating it to excess.

quote:

as addictive and harmful as cigarettes, scientists argue.

The above should have "scientists" in quotes.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
Ultra processed foods should be regulated here the same as they are in Europe. Other places do get some things correct, this topic being one of them IMO.

Why don't you enlighten us as to what you mean, Comrade? I don't see this regulation in Europe that you speak of.

Are you inferring the government should dictate what we are allowed to eat now?

Since you asked so politely, here is just one of a lot of links available in seconds to you:

https://www.eatthis.com/americ...-in-other-countries/

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I’m not talking about USDA and food standards and safety.

I’m talking about the Government DECIDING WHAT I CAN AND CANNOT EAT.

You can eat garden mulch if you want to, and as much as you can choke down, but if you want to eat anything from a restaurant or a grocery store, the USDA decides what can and cannot be sold there as food. So to get right down to it, yes, they do. Unless you're a guy who grows, fishes or hunts all his own food, the USDA decides what you eat.

The big problem is that so much is allowed. You wanna do some fun reading, check out Monsanto and who they're in bed with. I forget the exact details, but one of their top clowns was married to a congress critter who served many years and had things to do with legislation affecting farming. There's absolutely corruption in that area of government, and it's affecting our health as a population.

If a freshly made pizza of flour, tomatoes, and cheese is considered "highly processed," then we have bigger problems.

The key researcher in the article


Food addiction is harder to manage than cocaine or heroin addiction....

quote:

Originally posted by mikeyspizza:
If a freshly made pizza of flour, tomatoes, and cheese is considered "highly processed," then we have bigger problems.

Flour is highly processed. Basically it’s pure starch. IT’s converted to glucose quickly in the body. That spikes insulin and a fat storage response. It’s also highly addictive. I can be on keto for months and one slice of pizza or bread and I want to just continue eating carbs.

If you can stay fit on a carb based diet that’s fine. I can’t.